Tourism fund 'proving a fizzer'

The government has dropped the ball over funding to local councils struggling to cope with huge tourism numbers and cannot even give an assurance urgent projects will get money, says New Zealand First.

'All the government has allocated for councils to improve their infrastructure to deal with the massive demand from tourists is a miserable $12 million,” says New Zealand First Tourism Spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau.

'There is a long queue of councils from all over the country having to scrap to get a slice of that money and now the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has suggested urgent projects might not even be eligible.

'The Mackenzie District Council is in desperate need of funding assistance for two Tekapo toilets costing nearly $1 million but might miss out.

'This is unacceptable; the government creams off $929 million from GST on international visitor spending each year which provides a $630 million surplus.

'There is plenty of money that the government could allocate to the Mid-Sized Tourism Facilities Grant Fund.

'Tourism Industry Aotearoa says $100 million is needed for councils to deal with the influx of tourism – just providing $12 million is pitiful.

'The government must beef up their funding and give priority to urgent projects,” Mr Tabuteau says.

SOURCE: Office of Fletcher Tabuteau

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